Colour cores of fixed cables - February's Question of the Month

Question:  Why was it necessary to change the colour cores of fixed cables after so many years?

Answer:  With the establishment of the EU, or as it was known in earlier days the EEC, it was decided to rationalise the electrical installations rules for member countries so that the same Rules applied throughout Europe.

It was accepted that this would be a slow process as the Rules in each country had been set up many years before. Hence negotiating changes would be an extremely difficult process. This would be particularly difficult in what might be called the non-technical areas such as the colours of various cable cores and other traditional practices.

Of immediate concern was adopting a common colour code for flexible cables on appliances and this was driven hard by appliance manufacturers so that they could export their appliances throughout Europe and world-wide. This was achieved in the early 1970s and was indeed a major achievement when one remembers that while we regarded red as a phase colour, in Germany red was the earthing conductor. Similarly various conductor colours were used by different countries.

Agreement was not as quickly reached with regard to fixed or permanent wiring, although Europe did agree to a common colour for the neutral during the 1970s.

It was only recently that agreement was reached on phase colours and henceforth these will be:

Neutral - Blue
Phases - Brown, Black, Grey

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Electro-Technical Council of Ireland Ltd, ETCI Offices, Unit H12, Centrepoint Business Park, Oak Road, Dublin 12, Ireland Telephone: 01-4290088 Fax: 01-4290090

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Source: ETCI FAQ